On this day: July 2

1999: Author Mario Puzo, known for his novels about the Mafia, including "The Godfather," which he later co-adapted into the film by Francis Ford Coppola, dies of heart failure at the age of 78 in West Bay Shore, New York.

1997: Actor James Stewart, best known for movies such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "The Philadelphia Story," "It's a Wonderful Life," "Rear Window" and "Vertigo," dies of a blood clot in his lung at age 89 in Beverly Hills, California. Stewart won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in "The Philadelphia Story" and was nominated for another four Oscars. He also was a World War II and Cold War veteran, rising to the rank of brigadier general in the United States Air Force Reserve.

1997: "Men in Black," starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, is released. The movie topped box office charts for three straight weekends, opening with a $51 million box office in the U.S. and eventually grossing $326 million worldwide.

1993: Actor Fred Gwynne, best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms "Car 54, Where Are You?" and "The Munsters," dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 66 in Taneytown, Maryland. He was also known for his later roles in the movies "Pet Sematary," "Cotton Club" and "My Cousin Vinny" (pictured).

1991: Actress Lee Remick, best known for movies such as "Anatomy of a Murder," "Days of Wine and Roses" and "The Omen," dies of kidney and liver cancer at the age of 55 in Los Angeles, California. Remick earned an Oscar nomination for her role in "Days of Wine and Roses."

1991: Axl Rose sparks a riot during a Guns N' Roses concert outside of St. Louis when he jumps off the stage, attacks a fan videotaping the concert and then storms off stage. The resulting riot left 60 injured.

1989: American film director Franklin Schaffner, best known for such films as "Planet of the Apes," "Patton," "Papillon" and "The Boys from Brazil," dies of lung cancer at age 69 in Santa Monica, California. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for "Patton" in 1971. He's seen here in 1977 outside Franklin and Marshall College after accepting an honorary degree.

1986: Actress and singer Lindsay Lohan is born in New York City. She rose to fame as a child actress thanks to her roles in the Disney remakes "The Parent Trap" and "Freaky Friday" and has gone on to star in other movies such as "Mean Girls," "Herbie: Fully Loaded" and "A Prairie Home Companion."

1986: The Prince movie "Under The Cherry Moon" is released. It was the musician's second movie, following 1984's "Purple Rain."

1984: Epic Records sets a record by shipping two million copies of the Jacksons' "Victory" album to stores. It was the first time that such a large initial shipment had been made.

1983: Singer-songwriter Michelle Branch is born in Phoenix, Arizona. She is best known for the Grammy-winning 2002 song "The Game of Love," a collaboration with Santana. Some of her other best known songs include "Everywhere," "All You Wanted" and "Are You Happy Now?"

1980: The spoof comedy "Airplane!" opens in theaters. The movie, a parody of the disaster film genre, would prove to be a box office success, earning $83 million in North America alone against a budget of $3.5 million.

1979: The U.S. Mint officially releases the Susan B. Anthony coin in Rochester, New York.

1977: Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, known for the novels "Lolita" and "Pale Fire" and the memoir "Speak, Memory," dies of a viral infection at age 78 in Montreux, Switzerland.

1973: Actress Betty Grable, who was as famous for her legs, once insured by her studio for $1 million with Lloyds of London, as for her movies, dies of lung cancer at the age of 56 in Santa Monica, California. Some of her best-known movies include "Down Argentine Way," "Moon Over Miami," "Mother Wore Tights" and "How to Marry a Millionaire."

1971: The blaxploitation film "Shaft," starring Richard Roundtree in the title role, is released.

1964: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.

1962: The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.

1961: Author Ernest Hemingway dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at age 61 in Ketchum, Idaho.

1956: Elvis Presley records "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel."

1956: Buddy Holly's first single, "Love Me," is released.

1955: "The Lawrence Welk Show" premieres. The show would end up running for 1,065 episodes over nearly 27 years before ending on April 17, 1982.

1947: An object crashes near Roswell, New Mexico. The U.S. Army Air Force insisted it was a weather balloon, but eyewitness accounts led to speculation that it might have been an alien spacecraft.

1947: "Seinfeld" co-creator and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Larry David is born in Brooklyn, New York.

1939: President Theodore Roosevelt's face is dedicated at Mount Rushmore.

1937: Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

1929: Imelda Marcos, Filipino first lady and wife of Ferdinand Marcos, is born Imelda Remedios Visitación in Manila, Philippines.

1925: Civil rights leader Medgar Evers is born in Decatur, Mississippi. Evers, who was involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi, was murdered on June 12, 1963, in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith. In 1994, 30 years after two previous trials had failed to reach a verdict, De La Beckwith was brought to trial based on new evidence, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

1908: Thurgood Marshall, who became the first black justice on the United States Supreme Court in 1967, is born in Baltimore, Maryland. Marshall served on the court for 24 years, compiling a liberal record that included strong support for Constitutional protection of individual rights, especially the rights of criminal suspects against the government.

1897: Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.

1881: Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield at a train station in Washington, D.C. Garfield would eventually die from infection on Sept. 19, 1881, and Guiteau was executed on June 30, 1882.

1877: Author and poet Hermann Hesse, the Nobel Prize laureate writer whose works include "Steppenwolf," "Siddhartha" and "The Glass Bead Game," is born in Calw, Württemberg, German Empire.

1778: Swiss philosopher, writer and composer Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose work influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought, dies from a hemorrhage at age 66 in Ermenonville, France. His best known works include "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality" and "On the Social Contract," both of which are now considered cornerstones in modern political and social thought.

1776: The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence wouldn't be approved until July 4.

1698: Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine.

1679: Europeans first visit Minnesota and see the headwaters of the Mississippi River in an expedition led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.

1566: Nostradamus, the French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide, dies of complications from gout at age 62 in Salon-de-Provence, Provence, France.

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